by Pirateaba
He answered her politely and without meeting her eyes. Erin felt a pang, but then Ressa was by her side.
“If you will follow me? Lady Magnolia Reinhart awaits your company.”
There was nothing to do but follow. In fact, not one person hesitated as Ressa led the way into the mansions. The double doors swung out as if they were automatic when they were in fact, magical. She strode along so quickly that Erin had to move fast to keep up.
But again, who would argue with Ressa? Erin might not have known it, but just one look at Ressa was a glimpse into her personality and function in the Reinhart household.
Ressa looked almost inhumanly good. It was a feature of her class, although Erin couldn’t have known that. All Erin did know was that Ressa looked how she wanted to look when she was full of bad self-esteem and dreamed of being taller and a supermodel. She was beautiful, but also stern and imposing. Exactly like the head matron or schoolmistress out of some old children’s book.
Or a queen.
And there was certainly something queen-like about the way Ressa strode through the halls and the servants bobbed their heads to her—or maybe Erin—and began to work twice as hard.
Erin noticed that with part of her mind, but the rest of her was trying to take in the mansion that Ressa seemed determined not to show her. Paintings, statues, and what looked like magical artifacts blended together with long corridors and rooms filled with wonderful furniture and objects that disappeared as Erin moved past.
It was all too much to take in. Erin could barely focus on one thing at a time; her eyes would catch on something and then transition to something else, so the only thing she remembered was wealth and beauty and grandeur.
And that was sort of annoying. Erin frowned. She looked at Ressa’s back as she passed what looked like a gallery of magical items in glass cases. She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then spoke up.
“Excuse me. Could we slow down for a second?”
The air froze. The servants trailing Erin and Ressa flinched. The tall woman looked over at Erin.
“What was that?”
“Oh, sorry. I just wanted to look at some of this stuff. It’s really incredible. Unless Lady Magnolia is waiting for me?”
Erin blinked innocently up at Ressa. The [Head Maid] hesitated.
“Lady Magnolia is extremely busy at the moment. You may wait for her in a dressing room.”
She was disarmed by the smile the younger woman gave her.
“Oh. If she’s busy I wouldn’t want to disturb her. Can I just look at these displays instead of waiting in a room? It’s really amazing.”
Reynold seemed to be trying to swallow his tongue, and the maids were staring between Erin and Ressa and slowly trying to edge away. Ressa blinked, but then her brows snapped together.
Erin felt the slightest tingling on the back of her neck, and a vague sense of unease passed across her—for just an instant. She blinked, and it was gone like a moment of indigestion. She looked at Ressa and wondered if she was going to let Erin look. She was staring at Erin’s face pretty hard. Thinking? Erin wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble.
After a few seconds, Erin realized that this was intimidation, not thought. Erin stared back, not smiling anymore. Was the other woman trying to scare her? She was tall, but that wasn’t scary.
Again, the briefest moment of unease passed through Erin as Ressa’s glare seemed to intensify. But Erin just stared back. She’d looked at Skinner; this wasn’t very scary.
And now Ressa seemed confused. Erin looked around as she scratched her back awkwardly. Reynold and the other two maids looked pale. Was something happening? Was Ressa using a Skill? Why wasn’t it working on Erin?
Maybe it was some kind of intimidation skill. Erin frowned. Should she get upset? But maybe Ressa just wanted to do her job well. It couldn’t be easy, leading people around all the time.
“Um. Is that too much of a bother?”
Ressa blinked. The tingling in Erin’s stomach faded, and she heard people start breathing again. The head of Lady Magnolia’s staff stared at Erin and slowly nodded her head.
“The drawing room may wait a while longer. What do you want to know?”
Erin shrugged.
“I don’t know. It just looks interesting. Is everything magical?”
She pointed.
“What does that thing do?”
—-
“…This sword was used by the young Lady Magnolia during her first battle at the pass in Liscor during the First Antinium Wars. She successfully defended herself and injured four Soldiers when they broke through the ring of guards to attack her. You will note the enchantments for sharpness and frost etched onto the blade.”
As it happened, Ressa lectured like a teacher as well, with excellent oratory skills and clearly a lot of passion when it came to her mistress. Erin nodded approvingly as she studied the shortsword in one of the many cases on display down a long hallway with windows looking out on the courtyard.
“Yeah. It’s shiny.”
Ressa glanced at Erin as the girl held her hands just over the lid of the glass case. It wasn’t locked, but Erin had the definite impression this was a ‘no touch’ sort of deal. She could actually feel the air growing colder around the pedestal.
“And what’s that? Is that a powerful ring?”
Erin moved over to the next object on display. Ressa nodded stiffly as maids and servants stared at the two and furtively scurried around behind their backs.
“…A ring of teleportation. Or should I say, [Lesser Teleportation]. It is fixed to an anchor, but no mages have been able to discern where the rings leads to. Putting it on might be deadly, hence the reason it is kept here.”
“But it’s not guarded or anything. Isn’t it dangerous if someone teleports to this ring?”
Ressa shook her head. It had taken a few minutes for her to start talking, but Erin had finally gotten her to explain what each object was and did outside of a one sentence reply. Either she was nicer than she looked, or she’d just given up trying to scare Erin.
“Each object here is protected by the enchantments of the mansion. Only a truly powerful mage would be able to penetrate the wards here.”
“But what if they did break through? And what if they, I dunno, brought an army?”
“That would be amusing to see.”
There was a glint in Ressa’s eyes. Erin blinked, and then nodded slowly.
“Right. So all of these things here are really valuable, right?”
“To a…certain extent. They are hardly the most prized artifacts in the Reinhart’s possessions, but they are important curios.”
“Like this other ring? What does it do?”
“It conjures a Hellhound to protect and defend the wearer for four hours. It can only be used once a month unless recharged with magic sooner, and the summoning time takes one minute.”
“Whoa.”
Erin eyed the ring. It looked like someone had melted and then twisted together metal and some kind of red stone to form the band that sat on a dark purple pillow.
“That sounds really useful. But why not give this to a servant? It could be useful when they’re out doing things. I mean, I was sort of worried we’d be attacked on the way here.”
Ressa sniffed dismissively.
“The [Butler] assigned to escort you has a number of magical items at his disposal and adequate Skills to ward off most attacks.”
“The [Butler]—you mean Reynold?”
Ressa paused. She looked at Erin oddly.
“…Yes. I do apologize if he acted with undue familiarity towards you.”
“What? Oh no, no!”
Erin waved her hands frantically at Ressa and nearly knocked over another pedestal that held a key in a display case. Ressa silently moved Erin away from the displays.
“I had a great ride. He was really nice! I just talked to him and he told me about wine and stuff.”
“Wine? Ah. One of Reynold’s
duties is overseeing the wine collection.”
“Yeah. He talked about that. I made him, really. So if he’s in trouble—”
“Please, pay no mind to my comment. I am…glad you found his company so refreshing.”
Ressa glanced out the window as she spoke, and then looked at Erin. She nodded slightly.
“I believe Lady Magnolia will be finished with her business shortly. If you would accompany me?”
“Oh. Sure.”
Erin awkwardly trailed after Ressa. This time the [Head Maid] didn’t walk nearly so fast, so Erin could stare around the mansion.
“This place really is the greatest. I haven’t seen anything like it.”
“Truly?”
Ressa seemed surprised, but Erin nodded.
“Yeah! There’s magic and maids and butlers and all kinds of amazing things. Like that painting of the mountain. I’ve never been in any place as fancy as this.”
“I would have assumed you had seen similar sights. You come from a world far more…advanced than ours, do you not?”
Erin paused in surprise. But that was right, if Lady Magnolia knew Erin was from another world and had people here, they would have talked to Ressa and the others.
“…Yeah, but I mean, it’s nothing special.”
“You fly through the air like the greatest of [Archmages] I am told. And you build buildings into the sky.”
“What, skyscrapers? They’re nothing special. Not like this.”
Erin was no world traveler, but she had visited other countries, often to play in chess tournaments. And she had visited fancy hotels (and not so fancy ones), but they were products of steel and glass. As magnificent as they got, they were still creations of a company that was probably less than a hundred years old.
And no hotel Erin had ever stayed at had a Van Gogh behind the receptionist’s desk or a statue carved by Rodin in their lobby. Lady Magnolia’s home had more works of art than Erin could count; it was like she’d turned a museum into her home.
And the magic. The magic was far beyond anything Erin had ever seen. There was something real to the statues of armor and the summoned guard Pegasus that no CGI or animation could replicate.
“I think your world is a lot more fantastic than mine. We have some things that are more advanced, but that’s only technology. We don’t have magic.”
Erin said it truthfully, but Ressa stopped walking for a second and looked at her in surprise.
“Thank you.”
For what? Erin opened her mouth, but the maid began walking again.
“We are entering the guest suite of the mansion. If you will inform me of your preferences, I will have food and drink prepared for you immediately. I do not expect Lady Reinhart will be occupied for more than—”
“It’s her!”
The loud voice was a shout of surprise and jubilation, totally at odds with the quiet dignity of the mansion. Erin jumped and Ressa turned as a door flung itself open.
A young man stood in the doorway. Erin was treated to a…normal face. When you got down to it, it was a normal face. The young man was not a Drake, nor a brooding veteran like Halrac. He didn’t have a face full of hair like Krshia, and his eyes were brown, as was his hair. He didn’t have exposed bone or glowing eyes and he wasn’t armed.
He was a normal Human. It was a relief. And he looked just like someone from Erin’s world. That’s what made her stare and gape.
He was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Completely normal, again. But that was so abnormal for this world that it was a shock. His t-shirt was black and had the green Android robot staring creepily at Erin. He had a watch—no, a Fitbit on his wrist, and a smile on his face.
Ressa did not. She blocked the young man’s path as he flung the door open and walked towards Erin.
“Mister Joseph, I must ask you to remain in your room. Lady Magnolia wishes to speak with Miss Solstice bef—”
“You’re actually here! Come on in!”
The young man—Joseph—ignored Ressa and tugged on Erin’s arm and suddenly she was in another room. She blinked, and looked around, confused, and then she was surrounded by people.
A young woman sitting with knees drawn to her chest stared at Erin from her chair. She had black skin—which again, was normal where Erin was from, but was the first person Erin had met who looked like that in this world. Now that Erin had grown used to brown fur and scales of different colors, it was another shock.
But another young woman was in front of Erin—more of a teenager, actually. She had a casual shirt, loose pants, and a cotton jacket on, and two rings. And she had painted nails, dark purple flaking slightly at the tips.
Erin stared at her. The other girl had a pair of sunglasses perched on her forehead. She was just like any normal girl from Erin’s world. Any normal girl.
It was almost too much for Erin to handle. She stared at the other girl and exclaimed.
“Oh my god!”
“Oh my god!”
A second’s hesitation, and then they threw their arms around each other. More people crowded around, ignoring Ressa as she spoke loudly behind them, and suddenly Erin was back home.
For a few seconds, Erin could stare around and only see people from her world. For a few seconds. And then the opulence of the room they were in hit her, and she realized she was standing in a sitting room that even the Queen of England might have envied. Maybe. Erin had never been in the Buckingham Palace, so she had no way of comparing the two. But this room was up there in terms of poshness.
Gold-backed chairs. Rich sofas and rugs that were probably real fur rather than machined fibers. A table made of crystal, and another one of those platters heaped with exotic foods and drinks.
Oh, and a huge glass window that looked out onto a massive garden where the storm cloud was still making its rounds. Erin stared around, but then the young people were around her, talking, demanding her attention.
And they were young. Erin was 20 years old, but they all seemed younger than her. Maybe it was just her perspective, but none of them could have been older than sixteen. But apparently they were close to her age or a few years younger.
The young man who’d dragged her into the room was the first to make himself coherent over the outpouring of voices. He shouted everyone else down, and Erin finally managed to count how many people were in the room.
Nine—no, ten. The girl in the chair hadn’t gotten up, but she was still staring in Erin’s direction. Ressa had left.
The young man smiled at Erin again, revealing straight teeth, probably the result of braces, another oddity. He introduced himself at last, along with the others.
“I’m Joseph, this is Rose. And this is Galina, Troy…”
Erin looked around, forgetting names, shaking hands, waving, and nodding at the people he introduced. They were nearly equally split between genders, and with Erin there were exactly five boys and five girls in the room.
“I’m Erin. Erin Solstice. How did you all get here?”
Erin stared around the room, still slightly in shock. The hubbub started again, but this time the young woman who’d hugged Erin—Rose—explained.
“I was travelling to visit France, and these guys were a group of international students visiting the United States. We were all in the Chicago airport when we were taken.”
“You mean, abducted.”
Another boy said that. He had Asian features—although Erin wouldn’t have been able to guess where he was from. She blinked at him, and Rose looked irritated.
“It wasn’t an abduction! It was a spell, a spell!”
“How do you know?”
“That’s what happened to the Americans, remember? I told you, they said there was a spell. That has to be it!”
“But why didn’t we all end up in the same place? Was it just a mistake?”
“It has to be a spell. What else could it be?”
Erin blinked as Rose began arguing with the other guy. Joseph jumped back in, cutting t
he two off.
“We arrived in the world just last week! It was crazy—one second we were waiting for our flight, and the next, we were here! We—the seven of us—appeared in this city in the middle of nowhere. Everyone was screaming, and Rose ended up in a forest!”
“What? One week?”
Erin stared at him. Joseph was wearing a huge grin, and he seemed to be practically vibrating with excitement.
“Yeah. All these soldiers ran up the instant we appeared and arrested us. We had no idea what was about to happen and they brought in a mage to look at us when Lady Magnolia arrived! She got us out of prison and took us here. Can you believe this place?”
“Wait, hold on. How did she find—no, wait, what’s happening back home? Does anyone know we’re missing? I’m missing?”
Erin grabbed Joseph. He looked startled and shook his head.
“No—we haven’t heard anything about missing people. Why. When did you get here?”
She didn’t even know. Erin let go of Joseph and shook her head. Ever since she’d landed in this world, each day had felt like a week. Or a year.
“I—don’t know. Three months? Four? It feels like two years.”
“Three months!?”
Everyone looked startled, again, except for the girl sitting in her chair. She was rocking back and forth and staring at Erin without participating in any of the noise. Her eyes were sunken and she didn’t seem to blink.
“Three months, are you serious?”
Joseph stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. Rose stared at Erin.
“Do you have an iPhone? Were you part of the call?”
“The call? Wh—oh!”
Erin remembered the call Ryoka had told her about, the one with people from all over the world. She shook her head.
“I don’t have anything from my—our world. But I know a girl who does. She was part of the call?”
“What?”
Again, the exclamation and uproar nearly deafened Erin. The guys were talking excitedly, and the girls were asking Erin where the other girl was, what her name was, when she was getting here, and so on.
Erin raised her hands.
“I don’t know! She’s out on a delivery. She’s a Runner and I haven’t seen her for a week.”